Okoye (Earth-11584)
History "I do not have the luxury of my own opinions, Nakia. I answer to the man who sits on that throne, regardless of what I may think of him personally." '''Okoye '''is a member of the all-female bodyguard contingent known as the Dora Milaje, an elite guard for the kings of Wakanda. She currently serves as its general and primary leader, and thus is one of the leading forces within Wakanda's military and arguably the highest serving woman in the government of the nation (outside of possibly the Queen Mother and Princess Shuri, neither of whom hold any legal power). While traditionally the Dora Milaje also serve as potential wives for the King, that has not been their calling for a number of years. Born into the Border Tribe of Wakanda, Okoye joined the Dora Milaje at a very young age, perfecting her craft and skills with the top combat oriented minds that Wakanda had to offer. Little is known about her childhood outside of the training regiment of the Dora Milaje. Traditionally the Dora Milaje devote themselves entirely to the throne of Wakanda during their service, a tradition continued by Okoye, as she forsook any romantic notions when she swore her oath into the regiment. For at least five years she served King T'Chaka as his personal bodyguard, eventually rising up the ranks to become a general in the group. She was present during the incident in Vienna when the Winter Soldier, coerced, blew up a UN summit which resulted in the death of the king. Okoye then began guarding the heir apparent to the throne, the king's son T'Challa, bringing him the mantle of the Black Panther when asked and accompanying him as a somewhat silent observer during his interactions with the Avengers before coming back to Wakanda at T'Challa's request. Okoye traveled with T'Challa into the Democratic Republic of the Congo to retrieve Nakia (who at one time had been training to join the Dora Milaje, but instead joined the War Dogs instead) so she could be present for the coronation and challenge ceremony of T'Challa the following day. Over the next few days, as T'Challa toured the kingdom, Okoye settled back into her role as the lead general of the Dora Milaje, happy to be back home. However her homecoming was short-lived, as she learned of an impending sale of a Wakandan artifact of Vibranium by the notorious arms dealer and wanted fugitive Ulysses Klaue. She informed T'Challa of this and, after presenting her findings to the Council of Wakanda, agreed to follow T'Challa and Nakia to Busan, South Korea to apprehend Klaue. In Busan, she and the rest of the Wakandans infiltrated an underground casino, only to run headlong into a sting operation set up by SHIELD agent Phil Coulson. This was followed by a car chase through the streets of Busan, in which Okoye helped eventually capture the arms dealer, only to council T'Challa against killing him then and there given the number of witnesses. Klaue was taken to a nearby police station and interrogated, only to be broken out by Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger. In the aftermath, T'Challa brought a wounded Nakia and Agent Coulson (the latter against the advice of Okoye) back to Wakanda for treatment. Eventually Klaue did find his way back to Wakanda as part of a larger scheme by Killmonger, who was really the son of Prince N'Jobu, N'dajaka, to challenge T'Challa for the throne. Okoye had to watch as her king and friend was apparently killed by the outsider, and forced to salute him as the new king of Wakanda. One of his first orders was to get information from Agent Coulson, still contained within Shuri's lab. Shuri, Ramonda and Nakia smuggled Coulson out of Wakanda right past Okoye, though it appeared as if the general of the Dora Milaje let them go, reluctantly serving her new king. When T'Challa showed up with the Jabari to reclaim the throne and N'Dajaka refused the challenge, Okoye turned on N'Dajaka as unworthy to be king, and the Dora Milaje followed her, eventually winning the day and restoring T'Challa to the throne of Wakanda. Okoye remains as a general of the Dora Milaje to this day. Powers & Abilities * Master Martial Artist: Okoye is trained in several different forms of unarmed combat (she prefers unarmed or limited weapon combat, as she views guns as "primitive") and is considered a high level master in most of them, even amongst her peers within the Dora Milaje. * Vibranium Spear: Like all members of her unit, Okoye carries a Vibranium spear that can be easily shrunk to a smaller size for easy concealment. She is highly skilled in its use as both a melee and throwing weapon, and the properties of Vibranium make the spear a nearly indestructible weapon in its own right. Weaknesses Okoye is loyal only to the throne of Wakanda, almost to a fault, as she sided with Erik Stevens, AKA Killmonger, when he became King of Wakanda temporarily despite her negative feelings for him. This loyalty ended when he refused T'Challa's continuation of the challenge to rule, but it remains steadfast to those who maintain Wakanda's traditions. Film Details Okoye appears in the following films in the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases she is portrayed be actress Danai Gurira. * Captain America: Civil War (2016) * Black Panther (2018) Category:Earth-11584 Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:Good Characters